Fame: an embalmer trembling with stage fright.

Fame: an embalmer trembling with stage fright.

What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill
A certain portion of uncertain paper:
Some read more

What is the end of Fame? 'tis but to fill
A certain portion of uncertain paper:
Some liken it to climbing up a hill,
Whose summit, like all hills, is lost in vapour:
For this men write, speak, preach, and heroes kill,
And bards burn what they call their "midnight taper,"
To have, when the original is dust,
A name, a wretched picture, and worse bust.

Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb
The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar!

Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb
The steep where Fame's proud temple shines afar!

The aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome
Outlives, in fame, the pious fool that rais'd it.

The aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome
Outlives, in fame, the pious fool that rais'd it.

Your fame shall (spite of proverbs) make it plain
To write in water's not to write in vain.

Your fame shall (spite of proverbs) make it plain
To write in water's not to write in vain.

And what after all is everlasting fame? Altogether vanity.

And what after all is everlasting fame? Altogether vanity.

The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.

The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached, even death.

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.

Nothing can cover his high fame but Heaven;
No pyramids set off his memories,
But the eternal read more

Nothing can cover his high fame but Heaven;
No pyramids set off his memories,
But the eternal substance of his greatness,--
To which I leave him.